Time Tracking Template for Instructional Design

As an instructional designer, I often need to estimate the time it will take to complete a project. One tool I use for determining my estimates is records of how long past projects have taken. Having everything together in a spreadsheet also simplifies my invoicing to clients. In addition, I track non-billable time. That’s primarily for my own interest; I want to see how long I spend on administrative tasks like invoicing as well as networking and marketing tasks.

Tips

Time Spent will automatically calculate once you add your Start Time and End Time.

Leave the Invoiced column blank until you have actually sent the invoice. This lets you filter for work you haven’t invoiced yet by filtering for “blank.”

By default, the template is set up with ADDIE phases plus administrative, project management, and business development tasks. You can edit this list of Phases on the Named ranges tab. If you do change it, you may also need to adjust the data validation in the Phases column. (The numbers in front of the ADDIE phases make them sort properly in the pivot table.)

Pivot Table

I use a pivot table to analyze how I spend my time. The template is set up to group data by quarter and month for invoicing purposes. (Quarter and Month are calculated in hidden columns B & C of the Tracking tab.)

You can adjust the pivot table to group by phases instead of quarter and month. This is especially useful when you’re estimating time for future projects. You can see how long each phase took for similar past projects and use that as the basis for your estimate.

You can also filter the pivot table by whether tasks or billable or not, client, phase, etc.

Feel free to use this template yourself. Edit it to make it compatible with your workflow and needs. If you have questions or suggestions for improvement, ask them below in the comments. Read more about how I determine my time estimates for designing and developing e-learning.

Post navigation

11 thoughts on “Time Tracking Template for Instructional Design”

Thanks for this, Christy. I’ve used something like these spreadsheets for contract work I’ve done, but came up with them over time. This is a great resource for new contractors and has given me good ideas on how I can improve what I already use.

This spreadsheet has been under revision for years. I suspect I’ll continue to tweak it as my needs change. That’s the only way to create a spreadsheet like this that really works though–you start with something and you gradually improve it as you figure out more efficient methods. I figure anyone who really uses it will need to adapt it, but it does give people a head start from just starting on their own. Glad to know you’ve found something you can borrow for your own tracking system.